How HR Can Rev Your Restaurant Engine | vcfo

How Effective HR Can Rev Your Restaurant Engine

While 2025 is forecasted to be a somewhat stronger year for the restaurant industry than 2024 was, operators will still need to push all the right buttons to move their businesses in a significantly positive direction. They'll undoubtedly take various strategic actions to try and make it happen - run promos, tweak menus, adjust aesthetics, modify pricing, and more. However, without engaged, enabled, and empowered employees to execute such actions consistently and correctly, all these efforts likely will not be successful.. Human resources is a not-so-secret weapon many restauranteurs need to wield more effectively in order to elevate employee impact and satisfaction. In this post, we explore how strong HR leadership puts the right programs and practices in place to build a stronger workforce, solidify culture and operations, and boost your bottom line.

Make Your People Your Restaurant’s Priority

Starbucks’ former President Howard Behar titled his 2007 book It’s Not About the Coffee because he experienced that success in a food & beverage business is driven by a strong focus on people - both customers and employees - rather than just products or profits. When leaders demonstrate genuine care about their employees and customers, they foster an environment of trust, motivation, and long-term success.

CEOs and owners can chart a restaurant’s course, but can’t be everywhere to ensure every employee is adequately equipped to perform their best. Strong HR leadership is needed to put the right programs in place so that all restaurant unit employees are armed with the information, tools, and skills they’ll need to succeed. If you don’t have highly experienced senior HR leadership, partnering with a fractional HR leader with deep, restaurant-specific expertise is a great move. Human resources ensures that required HR functions and processes are in place from a compliance and essential business operations perspective. More importantly, they ensure that the people resources are in place and activated to support the broader strategic business goals of the company. Some of the critical functions that HR leadership codifies and guides include:

• Recruitment, Hiring, and Onboarding Practices to ensure the right people (proper skill set, culture fit, and customer service mindset) are hired for the right roles and can quickly understand company values and culture expectations, and job responsibilities.
• Training & Development to introduce or sharpen skills and required education (e.g., food safety, customer service, operational tasks), advance leadership development, and promote cross-training.
• Performance Management Practices to support regular performance reviews and feedback sessions that also communicate clear career paths for employee growth and promotion.
• Compliance and Workplace Safety processes and procedures to ensure adherence to all applicable labor laws and mandated policies, as well as standards for food safety, hygiene, and workplace safety.
• Support Retention Goals through regular employee engagement and feedback to ensure leadership has the pulse of the workforce and is addressing areas of concern that could otherwise lead to an exit.

A vital cog in a restaurant’s employee-effectiveness chain is its General Managers (GMs). GMs set the tone and are responsible for the on-location execution of elements like those described above to ensure that employees provide excellent customer service. Senior HR leadership supports and develops strong GMs with structured leadership training, clear career growth paths, and performance coaching to enhance their management skills. They also ensure access to resources, mentorship, and company-wide best practices, empowering GMs to drive employee engagement and operational excellence.

Cascade Culture and Leverage Listening

Excellent examples abound of notable chains successfully instilling impactful cultural pillars across their businesses. McDonald’s philosophy of Quality, Service, Cleanliness, and Value (QSC&V) has long guided the restaurant chain’s franchisees and employees in how to approach operations. In another example, Chick-fil-A employees reply My Pleasure to customer appreciation testaments to embody their founder's “commitment to exceptional customer service and making every guest feel special.” To make culture meaningful and not just a motto, HR must reinforce your restaurant’s mission and values, ensure alignment across all levels, and consider culture in every facet of its functions.

A critical aspect of HR’s ability to cascade culture is empowering GMs as culture ambassadors by equipping them with the tools and training to lead by example. This includes establishing regular check-ins, performance evaluations, and recognition programs that reward behaviors aligned with company values. By creating a strong sense of belonging and purpose, GMs ensure that company culture is a lived experience at every restaurant unit.

HR also supports company culture through transparent communication and feedback loops, ensuring employees feel heard and valued at all levels. Actively listening to employees helps to surface issues related to operations and employee satisfaction that may not be apparent to management. Ways that HR facilitates listening to employees include employee feedback mechanisms (surveys & polls, suggestion boxes/portals), open communication channels (regular check-ins, town halls, open-door policies), and Exit and Stay interviews to surface reasons why employees leave or continue to work for the business. HR should also play a key role in communicating key takeaways from feedback and outlining actions being taken in response.

Make HR a Home Run for Your Restaurant

Elevating your HR function will effectively raise the bar for every employee across your restaurant’s operations. Well-supported employees who enjoy their work and feel appreciated, in turn, pass those sentiments on to customers through exemplary service and excellent experiences and to employers through high engagement, productivity, and loyalty. Take time to thoroughly assess the strength of your restaurant’s HR programs and practices and ensure you’re investing the right resources and energy into your people. Your restaurant’s bottom line will be glad you did.

---

Would your restaurant operations benefit from industry-specific and proven HR leadership expertise? Request a Free Consultation with a specialized vcfo expert who can help. We’ve partnered with leaders from more than 6,000 businesses in our 29-year history and are ready to put our experience to work for you.